-Third person POV-
Ahri was standing in front of a weakened Kurumi. Rage was visible in the devilish girl's eyes before she passed out, falling backwards onto the grass.
The kumiho made a relieved expression. Exhausted, she started to walk towards the unconscious girl, but a sudden phenomenon stopped her. A hand was emerging from Kurumi's chest, covered in her blood. Slowly, the hand started to slide out of her.
When the entire arm was visible, it used the ground as a support, letting another arm burst out. Ahri stood there dumbfounded, seeing a person coming out of the chest of the enemy.
Ahri: Tch! Another clone?
But her suspicions were wrong. She noticed this after seeing the torso of the person going out: a man. She easily recognized his white hair and fox ears.
Ahri: Asriel!
Soon after six black tails made their way out of the body of Kurumi, helping him more. It was like he was being sucked back into her. After freeing himself completely, he pulled out his last two tails.
Two beautiful girls were pulled out of the bloodied body of Kurumi. Ahri recognized one of them while the other seemed to be a complete stranger to her. Asriel laid the girls gently on the ground at his side right after, he stood up and walked towards Kurumi, kneeling right at her side and covering his right hand with the colorful flames of Camael.
Ahri: Asriel!
She ran to his side, ignoring completely the unconscious girls resting not too far from her beloved one, kneeling at his side.
Ahri: W-What are you doing!? Why are you healing her?
He turned to her and answered with a kind and warm smile. He didn't say anything, he just healed her and then rested his head on Ahri's chest. She stood there with a surprised expression.
Silence fell in the field. Only the wind was howling. Ahri let Asriel rest his head in her lap, and started to caress his hair with a sad smile.
Ahri: You idiot, I knew you'd end up like this.
*
Ahri remained in the same place waiting for everyone around her to wake up; though the first one to do so was Kurumi.
She sat up in the grass and looked around, confused. Her eyes then met Ahri's. She stood up with an angered expression and yelled at her.
Kurumi: You should have killed me when you had your chance!
Ahri looked at her with an irritated face and put her finger in front of her mouth.
Ahri: Shhhhh! Let him rest.
Kurumi: What!?
She contemplated the scene in front of her. Ahri was caressing the hair of the same man she devoured hours ago. Behind her, the other two girls she devoured were in a perfect state, resting unconscious on the ground.
Kurumi: H-how did...?
Ahri: Even if you ask me, I don't know. He just popped out of your chest, carrying them.
After saying that, she felt Asriel's head moving a little. He opened his eyes slowly and sat up calmly at her side, yawning and stretching, as if he were just waking up from a nap.
Asriel: *sigh* I feel so much better now.
He saw the two girls looking at each other with hatred.
Asriel: Wow.
He didn't say any more, he just stood up and looked around, walking towards the other unconscious girls right after seeing them. Ahri stood up and followed him, while Kurumi just stood there with a hand over her chest with a shocked expression.
Ahri: Will they be fine?
Asriel: They will, I somehow protected them from being affected in that shadow world.
Ahri: And what about you?
Asriel: I don't know, I don't really feel different from before.
Kurumi: What... are... you?
Her voice was weak, but it was enough for the two nine tailed foxes to hear her. They both looked towards her.
Kurumi: WHAT ARE YOU!!??!!
Asriel looked at her with a warm expression. Ahri didn't understand why he was acting so kind at her.
Asriel: I'm... no one.
Kurumi: DON'T COME AT ME WITH THAT BULLSHIT!!!!
She leaped forward and aimed her gun at him.
Kurumi: ZAFKIEL!! YUD!!!
Ahri was about to act but she was stopped by Asriel's tails. The bullet was shot. Asriel received it fully in the head, right between his eyes.
He stumbled back a little, but it didn't take much for to him to regain his composure. Kurumi was on her side, shaking, her face showing disbelief.
She stepped forward and started to punch Asriel in the chest, almost like a child throwing a tantrum. Tears of frustration were dripping from her eyes.
Kurumi: *sniff* W-why? *hic* just *hic* what are you?
Asriel: I told you already. Besides, you saw it yourself, didn't you?
Ahri stood at the side confused by the reaction of the girl that just an hour ago was trying to kill her. She saw how Asriel only meant to hug Kurumi, to console her.
Asriel: You had a lot of things accumulated, right? You needed to let all of that frustration go.
Kurumi: *hic* You don't know anything. *sniff*
Asriel: Maybe not, but I'm willing to learn. Just ask that stubborn fox over there.
He signaled towards Ahri.
Ahri: Huh?
Kurumi stayed there, looking to the ground. Meanwhile, Ahri heard someone groaning behind her. She looked towards the two girls laying on the ground, seeing the white-haired girl waking up and wandering her gaze around. Asriel, on his side, also noticed it, and walked towards her, offering his hand to stand up.
Asriel: Good to see you are awake. There are a lot of things to talk about.
A2: What the hell happened?
Asriel: We were devoured by shadows. We ended up in another dimension, where our time was being sucked out of us, killing us slowly. But we escaped... somehow.
A2 grabbed her forehead and closed her eyes, sighing.
A2: Sure, why the hell not?
Asriel: That's the attitude.
Ahri: Really? You'll just accept it? Just like that?
A2: I'm not going to question it, I don't think my head would be able to handle it.
Ahri: Fair enough.
Asriel looked back towards Kurumi. She was there, still looking at the ground, with part of her hair covering her eyes. He gave a last worried look before walking towards her once more, grabbing her chin and lifting her face until her eyes met his.
Asriel: I know it's a lot to think about, and there are a lot of things that we still don't understand. I know that no matter how strong you think you might be, you still are scared for what the future may have for you. But you don't have to hold it all by yourself anymore. We can figure it out together.
Kurumi stayed silent for a moment, Asriel extended his hand, hoping for her to accept his offer. She slowly raised her hand, but just a second before she could take it...
*DOOPAAN*
Suddenly the girl in front of him had a hole in the middle of her chest. Asriel made to cover himself with an ice barrier, all he saw was the corpse of Kurumi in front of him. Another was in front of him, rifle cannon steaming.
Kurumi: Nothing but empty words.
Asriel was shocked by what she said.
Kurumi: Trying to take advantage of someone during a moment of weakness? Hmph! Why would I stay at the side of someone as empty and meaningless like you?
Asriel: What did you do?
Kurumi: I just disposed of a weaker side of myself.
Asriel: Y-you...
She stepped closer to him, trying to grab his chin, but her arm was cut off right before that. Kurumi jumped back and took some distance.
2B: You bitch, get away from him.
Kurumi: Ara ara, you again? I'm amazed at how you can cut through my spiritual armor so easily. Well then. Zafkiel, Dalet.
She aimed at her own head and pulled the trigger of her gun; shooting the shadows inside the chamber returned her hand to its original position, making someone in the distance complain.
Weiss: You've got to be kidding me!
Yang: She can regenerate herself!?
Asriel turned to see the rest of team RWBY running towards them, followed by Arthur, Amelie and other two persons he didn't know.
Asriel: It's not like that! She rewound her own time!
Ahri: Let me take care of her!
Asriel: Huh!?
Right before he could notice, Ahri was in front of him, her tails were blazing in a combination of cyan and black flames.
Asriel: Don't even think about it!
Ahri: What!?
Asriel: Look at yourself for a moment!
She stopped and saw the flames accumulating in her tails.
Ahri: Tch! It doesn't matter!
Ruby: Ahri! Please hear what he is saying!
Kurumi: You should do what they say little fox. You might have won the last time, but don't expect me to let you repeat such an achievement.
Meanwhile, team RWBY noticed their teammate laying on the ground, and rushed towards her. The three royal adventurers stepped forward and prepared to fight against the enemy in front of them, but they were stopped by Asriel.
Asriel: Kurumi, I'm giving you a chance, this doesn't have to be this way.
Kurumi: As I see it, I got the upper hand right now. The fox is weakened, those white heads are no match, and you are not even capable of using a Seraphim at its full force.
Ahri: So, you noticed.
Kurumi: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! HOW DELIGHTFUL!!! All this time, ready for me to eat. Then I'll have enough energy to enter that tree and rip the Sephira from the girl inside.
Asriel: So, is that your final choice? To fight?
As they talked, some leaves started to fall from the tree, gliding in the air while falling to the ground. A sudden torrent of wind changed their trajectory, concentrating all the leaves in one point.
Asriel let the leaves surround him, until a pure white energy started to emerge from them. The torrent of pure energy started to concentrate in his palm, taking the shape of a heart.
Everyone who saw this was confused, but Kurumi was obviously mad at him.
Kurumi: How!?
Asriel (whispers): Thanks for the help, my little dryad.
Asriel: I assume you might want to escape now. But I'm sorry, I don't take so kindly to the idea of someone threatening my daughter's life.
He crushed the heart in his hand, absorbing the energy inside of it.
His eyes were red, and a pair of horns appeared on his head. There was no sign of his fox ears or tails. His body was suddenly surrounded by various fire rings; some of the flames concentrated in his right hand, taking a long shape and finally creating the battle axe of Camael.
Asriel: Now, let's see how strong a Seraphim is.
Kurumi: Tch! How!? You shouldn't be able to use the full power of a Seraphim.
Asriel: I got a little help from above.
He pointed behind him, towards the gigantic white tree.
Kurumi saw this with a disgusted look on her face, but she immediately jumped back, avoiding the first attack from Asriel.
She pointed her guns towards him and shot, while summoning some shadow clones. Asriel, on his side, was blocking all the bullets with the axe like it was nothing. Soon, dozens of clones started to surround him, shooting without mercy. Even while blocking the majority of the bullets, he received some damage from the ones that got through his defense. Soon he heard Kurumi's voice once more.
Kurumi: Zafkiel! Zayin!
Asriel tried to protect himself from the special bullets, but the other clones didn't stop their attack, leaving several openings in his defense. Finally he received the special bullet in one arm.
He froze in place, his body lost its colors, the area around him had the same effect on it.
Kurumi: It doesn't matter how strong you are, as long as you don't move, it's useless.
She walked slowly towards him and calmly put the canon of the gun on his forehead, all the clones around shoot at every part of his body, wounding him as much as possible. The original finally pulled the trigger, making Asriel's body move again, just to see him fall backwards to the ground, lifeless.
Kurumi: I got scared there, to be honest, but seeing Camael's power firsthand isn't as threatening as I thought.
She walked past his body, making sure to step on it while doing so, and focused her attention on the group in front of her.
Kurumi: GAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! NOW WHO WANTS TO BE NEXT!!??!!
Asriel: Now you've done it.
She opened her eyes widely, turning back to see Asriel standing up, still holding his axe.
Asriel: For someone that tries to act in a proper and elegant way all the time, you are showing a disgusting side of yourself, don't you think?
Kurumi: Hmph! Fine, I'll do it properly this time.
Asriel: Well then, at least you'll die with dignity.
He dashed forward with a terrible force; Kurumi barely noticed real danger and entered the shadow below herself, escaping the powerful slash of the fire axe. Asriel looked around him to find her, seeing multiple clones rushing at him.
Asriel: Get out of the way.
He started to attack each clone with several slashes of the axe, cutting some of them in half, burning others, and blocking some bullets coming from afar. One of the clones got close and kicked him in the guts, making him stumble back. Another clone then hit the back of his head with her gun. One by one, each clone started to fight like that.
Another clone was about to hit him with her gun, but he caught the weapon with his left hand, returning an ascending slash from the axe with his right hand. Using the inertia of the cut, he kept the circular trajectory of the attack and cut down another clone behind him.
The clones stumbled back momentarily, surprised, giving him the perfect chance. He swung the axe from side to side with movements of an expert, wounding some clones and completely annihilating others.
Kurumi saw this in the distance with a complicated expression.
Kurumi: I'm losing too much time in this battle.
She centered her vision on Asriel once more, just to see him glaring at her directly, his red eyes showed a terrible killing intent, causing her to step back in fear.
Asriel: I'll make you shrink in fear while you lose your determination to fight.
Kurumi: Don't make me laugh! Aleph!
She then shoots at every clone in the battlefield, making them vanish in shadows and then shooting to her own head, dozens of new clones then rushed at Asriel and covered him completely. But they were thrown away a moment later by fire burst, burning them down. Several fire slashed flew out of Asriel, some of them reached Kurumi and created several injuries around her body.
Kurumi: What the hell are you!? Zafkiel! Dalet!
She healed her wounds, leaving her noticeably tired; she brought down her arms to rest a moment.
Asriel: Already lowering your weapons?
Kurumi: You... I'll make you eat your own words! ZAFKIEL!!!
A giant clock appeared behind her. Asriel prepared his axe, but a sudden heat burst ran through his body, making him grab his chest in pain.
Asriel: Guagh!
Back with the group that was seeing everything from the side, Arthur noticed that and was about to jump into the fight. Yet a white tail stopped him.
Arthur: Miss Ahri! Let me go! He needs help!
Ahri: As much as I hate to say this, none of us is a match for either of them now.
Soon the other two royals entered the conversation.
Tarian: What do you mean?
Shiera: Are you calling us weak?
Ahri: Yes. They are out of our league right now. I can tell, I'm not a match for her anymore. I somehow used Asriel's Seraphims to fight earlier. I just can't do it anymore. Besides, Asriel is keeping the pace because he is somehow using Camael at its fullest.
Blake: What!? How is that even possible!? What is going on right now!?
Her friends were surprised to see her awake once more.
Yang: Blake! Are you okay!?
Ruby: We don't exactly know what is going on either.
Weiss: As usual.
Their voices were interrupted by the sound of another voice.
Asriel: Camael.
His voice was cold, but somehow it sounded throughout the battlefield. Everyone felt a cold sensation running through their spines.
Asriel: WRATH!!!
He raised the battle axe, covered in flames. The blades vanished in ashes, making the weapon transform into some sort of cannon; flames started to be absorbed inside, charging a shot.
Kurumi stumbled back in fear.
Kurumi: MYSELF!!!! HELP!!!
Dozens and dozens of clones stood in front of the original to protect her.
Asriel: Burn them to ashes, Camael!
The cannon gathered more flames and finally shot a powerful fire beam, burning everything in its path. The shot created a little explosion when it reached Kurumi.
The dust dispersed quickly, letting everyone see the clock behind Kurumi with a giant hole in it, and the incinerated path that the shot left. The girl fell on her knees, exhausted and weak. Even so, Asriel didn't stop.
Asriel: What are you doing? Stand up and grab your weapon! Isn't this what you wanted!? Keep fighting! Let's keep killing each other!
Kurumi only held herself with her arms to not fall completely to the ground, struggling to keep herself conscious.
Asriel: I see. If you can't hold up your weapon anymore, then just perish.
The people seeing this from the side was shocked by the cruelty that Asriel was showing.
The ones that were more shocked were the four girls from Remnant, the memories of the innocent and kind Asriel they met more than a month ago were crushed by the sight in front of them. Blake turned to see Ahri's reaction, only to find her calm and quiet; no trace of shock or fear was present on her face. She turned towards 2B and saw the same expression.
Blake: How can you watch this so calmly?
The four adventurers turned to her, as well as her three friends.
Blake: Ahri, how can you see this and not feel anything!?
Ahri: Who said I'm not feeling anything?
She dashed forwards and grabbed Asriel by the arm.
Ahri: What the hell are you doing!? If you keep going, she is really going to die!
He didn't answer and simply started to gather more flames in the cannon.
Ahri: Hey! What happened with what you said before!? Weren't you trying to help her!? Answer me!
She started to pull from his arm with more strength, finally noticing his eyes. His eyes were completely crimson, but even worse, they were empty. They were not reflecting life or consciousness.
Ahri saw this, shocked, and resolved herself. She ran towards Kurumi, standing in front of her with her arms opened.
Ahri: You wanted to help her, right!? Then don't you dare hurt her!
Kurumi saw her with an unbelieving expression, protecting her.
Kurumi: Y-you fox...
Soon after, a burst of wind hit them both. Rose petals were floating in the air. Ahri turned to her side to see Ruby doing the same; her face showing a strong determination.
However, Asriel didn't stop, his expression was still a sadist smile. Both Ahri and Ruby stayed in the same place, seeing the cannon charging in front of them. But one instant before the cannon shot, Asriel seemed to regain control, but he couldn't stop the shot.
The fire beam approached the three girls at high speed.
Asriel: STOP!!!
He raised his left hand and used a last resource. His hand shined crimson and the space in front of the fire beam distorted, creating several walls of crimson energy. The beam pierced through all of them.
As a last attempt, he used a huge burst of energy and teleported in front of the shot with Phantom, receiving the shot directly and protecting the three girls.
A huge explosion of fire occurred, everyone covered themselves, but the explosion left Ruby unconscious.
*
-Ruby POV-
I woke up in my room, slowly opening my eyes, and instantly closing them due to the sun shining in my face. I groaned irritated.
Me: Someone close the curtains; the sun is burning in my face... wait, burning? OH MY GOD!!! ASRIEL!! AHRI!!
I looked everywhere like crazy, going out of my bed and out of my room. No one was in the hallway, so I ran directly to Ahri's room, but it was empty. Scared, I ran towards Asriel's room.
Opening the door with all my strength, I saw him alone in his room. The curtains were closed, not a single trace of sunlight was visible.
He turned to see who entered the room, stood up, and ran to me, terribly worried.
Asriel: Ruby! Are you okay!? Any injuries!?
He grabbed her head, completely worried. His arms were covered in bandages, while the rest of his torso was completely naked. His legs were covered by normal pants. Ruby noticed the bandages on his arms and pushed him away gently.
Me: I'm fine, but what about you? What about Ahri?
Asriel: Ahri is fine. She told me what happened.
Me: And?
Asriel: After that final shot, you and I were knocked unconscious. I somehow blocked the shot with Phantom, though I used a lot of energy, and I burned my arms. After that, everyone got closer and started to ask a lot of things of Ahri. Most of those questions were left unanswered.
Me: Where is everyone?
Asriel: In the dining hall, discussing what happened. Yang was terribly furious with me, while Blake and Weiss were more scared. Ahri told me that A2 ran away too.
There is a lot of things to process right now.
Asriel: Why are you here anyway?
That question caught me out of guard.
Me: What do you mean?
Asriel: I thought you would be mad, like Yang, or scared, like Blake and Weiss. Why are you here with me, then? Why did you come here to see me?
Me: I am... scared. But that's why I'm here.
He made a surprised expression. I simply sighed and turned back to close the door. I walked to his bed and sat down, patting my side to invite him to sit down too. I saw him more carefully, his white hair, his golden eyes, without his tails or his ears.
Me: I want you to tell me what's going on.
Asriel: I already...
Me: No. Everything.
He gave me a worried look.
Me: Look, I want to be there for you, I want to hear your problems, to help you with them. I want you to trust me.
Asriel: I don't...
Me: Don't carry the entire weight of others behind your back. You are not alone, and Ahri is not the only one who can help you with that.
I gave him a warm smile, he saw me with a saddened expression.
Asriel: I imagine that you know what happened during that fight with the colossi.
Me: Yes.
Asriel: *sigh* I'm... breaking down. I can't handle it anymore; it's just too much for me. If it wasn't for Ahri I wouldn't have lasted this long. I've been feeling more and more conflicted with myself. I managed to keep it at bay during the first month, but after what happened with Ahri, I... I couldn't handle it much longer.
Me: I know...
I grabbed his hand kindly.
Me: I know I'm not as important to you as Ahri is. But I want to be that important.
Asriel: Y-you want to...
He stopped half way, not because he didn't want to say more or anything like that, but because I kissed him.
Wow I can finally do this without feeling guilty for it, I had to study for an exam (that I suspended) and I couldn't give much attention to writing. This chapter was ready since two nights ago but whatever, I finally updated it. Thanks to Wolfyrino for editing this and give it a second check to make this chapter more confortable to read, thanks to you for reading, I hope you like it, bye.